Vivek Rajkumar leads final table at 2019 Triton Million London

After two long days of action, the £1,050,000 buy-in Triton Million is down to its final table. Vivek Rajkumar leads the final eight that also includes Stephen Chidwick, Tim Adams, Bryn Kenney, Alfred DeCarolis, Aaron Zang, Dan Smith, and Bill Perkins. First place pays out £19 million in this charity event that raised £2.7 million for a Helping Hand Charity.

And then there were eight in London. The Triton Million attracted 54 high stakes recreational players and pros that were slugging it out in a £54 million prize pool. Only 36 players survived the cut on Day 1. By the end of Day 2, only eight remained.

On the surface these deep pocketed and well-connected players were there to donate £50K each to charity. They tallied £2.7 million for a worthy cause with Helping Hand Charity. But below the surface they were also there for a shot at over $23 million USD. The champ would bank £19 million.

Only the top 11 places paid out in the Triton Million London. With 54 million on the line that's one crappy bubble to burst. Alas, Igor Kurganov took the dubious honor and doodie prize when he bubbled the final table. After two long days of highstakes mayhem, Kurganov busted in ninth place and went home with zilch.

The top 11 places got a cut of the prize pool but this one was super top heavy. The bottom places barely won their buy-in back. Winfred Yu got picked off in 11th place, but min-cashed for £1,100,000. Chin Wei Lim hit the bricks in 10th place, which paid out £1,100,000. Wai Leong Chan earned £1,200,000 for a ninth place finish. Not much profit there, but then again, at least they went home with something.

With eight remaining in the Triton Million, Vivek Rajkumar sat behind a mountain of chips. He had almost twice as much as Stephen Chidwick in second overall. Vivek bagged up 18 million, while Chidwick was second with a little under 10M.

Bryn Kenney kicked off the year with a bang down under and a win at the Aussie Millions. Now he has a shot to win a cool £19 million if he can outlast seven other players.

Kenney (5.5M) is one of the mid-stacks with Tim Adams (5.7M), Alfred DeCarolis (5.4M), and Aaron Zang (5M.

Dan Smith (2.35M) and Bill Perkins (2M) are the two shorties coming into the final table. Perkins bagged the Day 1 lead and after and up and down day, he managed to stay alive to advance to the final table.

Judge William B. Shubb of the Eastern District of California released a 24-page opinion to dismiss the charges against a trio of defendants in the Mike Postle cheating case. Postle got caught winning $250,000 on live streams at the Stones Gambling Hall when Veronica Brill tipped off the poker community, who in turn did their due diligence and got to the bottom of the cheating scandal. Brill filed a lawsuit against Postle, poker rom manager Justin Kuraitis, and the Stones Gambling Hall (outside of Sacramento, California).

All eyes were on Las Vegas at Midnight as several casino reopened for the first time in 78 days since Governor Sisolak shuttered all casinos in the state of Nevada at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March. Casinos on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas were among the first to open, along with locals' casinos in the burbs. The Bellagio reopened, and any more Strip casinos will open on Friday.

Russia's Artur Martirosian cashed eight times for nearly $1.8 million to secure the leaderboard title at the 2020 Super High Roller Bowl Online. Martirosian edged out Vitkor Blom, who won two titles down the stretch and finished second overall. Martirosian wonEvent #16 $10K NL 6-Maxand finished second a couple other times to top the leaderboard.

Stanley Ho, one of the wealthiest men in China, passed away at age 98 according to a statement from his daughter, Pansy. Ho had become the King of Gambling in Asia after he envisioned a gambling mecca in the Pearl River Delta to rival Las Vegas. Ho's company, SJM Holdings, owned 20 casinos in Macau and even one in North Korea. At the time of Ho's death, SJM Holdings had an estimated value at $6 billion.

No shocker here, but PokerStars officially postponed their second installment of the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC). The $25K buy-in 2020 PSPC had been originally scheduled to coincide with the EPT Barcelona at the Barcelona Casino in late August. The PSPC will take place sometime in 2021 in Barcelona with a date yet to be determined. Platinum Passes are valid for the new dates and they will be running 80 additional chances to win one of the 400 passes.

The "high" version of the $10,300 buy-in 2020 SCOOP Main Event came to an end with Belarus' alexgirs outlasting 609 players to win the title and $920,595. The final three chopped including Pablo 'pabritz' Brito in second place and Alex 'dynoalot' Difelice in third. Also, at the final table were Pieter 'XMorphineX' Aerts, Daniel 'Oxota' Dvoress, Michael 'imluckbox' Addamo, Max 'goodeh99' Silver, and Benjamin 'bencb789' Rolle. PokerStars ambassador Lex Veldhuis went deep and set Twitch stream records along the way, but the Dutch pro busted in 15th place.

Poker returns to the sunshine state this week. A trio of poker rooms in Florida are set to open this week. Derby Lane in Tampa Bay, Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, and Bestbet Jacksonville in Jacksonville will all reopen under strict post-pandemic guidelines. Last week, casinos reopened in Deadwood, South Dakota. And now more states will slowly return to action, including tribal casinos in California.

Over the weekend, pandemic poker series were in full swing. 2-time WSOP bracelet winner, Elio Fox, won a 25K WPT Online Super High Roller for $565K and outlasted a tough final table that also included Tim Adams and Chris Hunichen. British pro Charlie Carrel, who won the 2017 SCOOP Main Event, binked his third SCOOP title with a victory in Event #70 Hight $530 NLHE PKO. Meanwhile over at GGPoker, a player under the screenname '800-522-4700' faded a field of 505 hopefuls to ship the WSOP Super Circuit $25K High Roller Championship for nearly $2.2 million and a coveted WSOP Circuit ring.

PokerStars will extend 2020 SCOOP because it has been such a huge success while the gaming world is under lockdown and quarantine. SCOOP is now 124 events that will run through the end of May, with an additional $50 million in guaranteed prize pools. Meanwhile, Steve O'Dwyer took down a 25K High Roller for his first SCOOP title and outlasted a final table that included Fedor Holz, Talal Shakerchi, and Ole Schemion.

Over 20 casinos are currently open in the United States of America with a handful more expected to open this weekend and next week. Several Las Vegas casinos, such as Venetian and Palazzo, are planning on reopening in June despite the fact that the USA leads the world in COVID-19 and COVID-related deaths. Casinos in Arizona and Louisiana are set to reopen by next week, with many other casinos rushing to get ready for a June return.

PokerStars hosted the StarsCALL for Action celebrity tournament with $1 million donated to CARE International and various coronavirus charities. David Costabile, an actor most-known for his work on "Billions" and "The Wire", took down the tournament and won $100,000 for his chosen charity: World Central Kitchen. Also, at the final table were Douglas Costa, Jen Shahade, Casey Affleck, Chris Moneymaker, and Mike Tindall.

PokerStars is hosting a star-studded charity poker tournament to assist coronavirus relief. The 'StarsCALL for Action' takes place on Saturday, May 9 starting at 2pm ET and it will be available to watch on multiple platforms including Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube. There will be over $1 million (to charity) up for grabs. Some of the stars slated to play are 'Rounders' screenplay co-writer, Brian Koppleman, and a well-known Hollywood stars such as Don Cheadle, Jon Hamm, Jason Alexander, and the guy who played Ross from 'Friends'.

Three casinos in the USA will reopen to gamblers in Deadwood, South Dakota. Meanwhile, Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, Florida decided to hold off on reopening their poker room this week. They will reopen the greyhound racetrack without any live spectators but decided against hosting poker games. Heading into the second weekend of May, all major casinos are closed in North America, especially in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and none of their casinos planning on opening before Memorial Day.

With the coronavirus pandemic shuttering casinos across the globe, some casino operators are rolling the dice and reopening amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Three casinos in the Czech Republic will reopen their doors on Monday, May 11, including the King's Resort Rozvadov, Admiral Casino Rozvadov, and the King's Casino Prague.

Even though he's "retired" Fedor Holz and his training site, Poker Code, signed a deal with GGPoker as the online poker site continues to sign high-profile online players like Elky and Felipe Ramos and big-time ambassadors such as Daniel Negreanu.

The World Poker Tour and partypoker teamed up to create the first-ever WPT Online Series, which will include 40 events and $35 million in guaranteed prize pools. Plus, there's the $5 million guaranteed Main Event that has a $3,200 buy-in and four starting flights. The Main Event champ also wins a seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions. The series is already underway and runs from May 3 to May 30 only at partypoker.

PokerStars.FR released a special format for their French players called La Course. This cycling-themed event features a 4-person progressive knockoutSNG and Shootout format with randomized PKO bounty prizes. Players can start this race for a modest entry fee of €1, with various buy-in levels (sprint levels) up to €60. You win the sprint race by reaching a specific monetary number of bounties and can earn up to €100K in bonus prizes.

2020 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is upon us! PokerStars will host 80 events for a total of 240 tournaments starting today and running through May 19. There will be over $85 million in guaranteed prize pools. Click here for more info.

Phil Galfond will take on ActionFreak in the next installment of the Galfond Challenge over at Run It Once Poker. This heads-up PLO series, the third overall, will take place at €150/€300 stakes for only 15,000 hands. The two have an even money side bet worth €150,000. The first day of action lasted a brief time whole ActionFreak experienced technical difficulties. Action between Galfond and ActionFreak will resume on Tuesday.

At the first-ever Poker Masters Online, hosted at partypoker, Alexandros Kolonias cashed in 11 out of 30 events to win nearly $1.3 million and earn the prestigious Purple Jacket for finishing in first place on the PMO Championship Leader Board. Kolonias, the top Greek pro in the world who also won the 2019 WSOP Europe Main Event, locked up the purple jacket with a victory in Event #30 $10K 6-Max.

Flashbacks are always fun, especially monsterpottens involving two well-known pros clashing during an episode of the classic TV Series "High Stakes Poker". In this classic hand, Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu squared off in a $575,000pot for the ages, which was the biggest pot in the history of televised poker (at the time). They both flopped sets, but Gus turned quads with pocket fives and fireworks ensued on the river.